Vacationed Out

I've been back for a couple of days, but I've been sorta worn out and had some catching up to do.  Like I mentioned last week, Lunchbox and I went on our annual "Mancation."  It was awesome as usual, but I am le tired.  It all started when we left Charlotte after work on Thursday...

We arrived in Manassas, VA (my family's hometown just outside of Washington, D.C.) late at night.  We both had worked the full day, so it was rough.  And after driving for about six hours I still felt like I was moving down the road.  The next morning, I felt like I'd been up all night drinking.

Saw this the next morning outside the hotel.  I feel ya, buddy.

We slept in a little and grabbed some breakfast, hoping to miss most of the horrible rush hour traffic from Virginia to DC.  We did okay for the most part, and about thirty minutes later we'd arrived at the Metro station to ride the rest of the way into DC.

We had quite a few plans for the day, but we started off with some sadz.  We decided to drop by the Pentagon to check out the September 11th Memorial since we'd never seen it.  I hadn't been to the Pentagon in close to thirty years (not much to do there unless you're in the military) so we hopped off at the nearby Metro stop and walked to the memorial.

It was very moving to say the least.  The layout was pretty awesome, even though it was sad.  They had these benches representing each person that lost their life that day...

And they were arranged depending on where the person was at the time the plane crashed into the building.  The benches facing away from the Pentagon were those that were inside, and the ones facing the building were people on the plane.

Like I said, sad.  But very respectful.  I'm glad we stopped by.

Anyway, we hopped back on the Metro and rode to the next stop.  More sad, but also respectful.  We spent some time at Arlington National Cemetery to pay our respects and take in some history.

We walked around there for quite a while, eventually spending some time at the Tomb of the Unknowns.

We watched the changing of the guard ceremony (twice actually) and it was awesome.  Between the two we watched I was explaining to Lunchbox how sometimes the sentinels have to yell at the crowd when they won't shut up (that's disrespectful.)  I told him that there are plenty of YouTube videos out there that show it and we would look at them later.  Well, we didn't have to.  It happened three times while we were there.  It amazes me that people don't know how to show respect, but whatever.

Anyway, I wasn't taking any video, but here is a link to one that someone else filmed...

Tomb of the unknown - soldier yelling at laughing crowd

We eventually got out of there, but no doubt the sentinels had to yell at the crowd again after we left.  We hopped back on the Metro and headed up to the National Zoo to take a quick stroll.  We mostly just checked out the Pandas...

And we spent a good bit of time with the various Great Apes.  

That was the end of our "planned" activities.  We did what we always do when we exit the zoo, and grabbed a few bikes from a nearby station to explore the city.

It's quite a long ride back to the heart of DC from the zoo, but we made it in no time (probably because we are experienced cyclists.)  We grabbed some lunch, then continued our exploring on foot for a while.  We headed down Pennsylvania Avenue and happened to catch some street performers doing crazy shit in front of the Treasury Building.

Then we tried to hang out in front of the White House, but there was some shit going down (a regular occurrence for sure) and we couldn't get close.

To me, it doesn't matter who lives in that house because someone will always be upset with them.  It's been going on since this country was founded.  Who gives a shit.  I love history and I love this country, so no matter who happens to be in that building I still respect the Office.  There is a difference, so take your political beliefs somewhere else.  I still enjoy visiting the White House.

Anyway, we stayed on foot and explored the National Mall.  The Washington Monument was closed for elevator repairs, so we just looked at it.

Then we walked down to the Lincoln Memorial...

And sat on the steps to watch the sun go down...

We talked to a Park Ranger for quite a while, and that dude really knew his history (some of them don't by the way.)  Once it got dark, we grabbed some bikes again and rode over to the Jefferson Memorial.  I didn't take any pictures of it (Google it), but I did get a photo of the Washington Monument at night from across the Tidal Basin.

We kept the bikes and took off towards The Capitol.  It's always neat to see at night.

We were running out of gas.  We'd been out since early in the morning.  We decided to get out of town at the last minute (the Metro stops running at midnight) and headed back to the station where I'd parked.  It was a long day, but fun as usual.  Like I said before, I really dig history.  And despite problems within our government, Washington, D.C. is still my favorite place to visit.

And it's easy to see it all in one day if you can ride a bike.  You should try it sometime.

On The Road To Vacation

Wow, three days in one week.  I'm not sure why, but...

Who Give A Shit.  I'm trying to make a regular habit of this (again) I guess.

I'm here to tell you that I'm leaving.  The man child and I area heading out on another adventure starting a little later today...

See?  I got my trip planned out and everything.

Actually, we're heading up to Washington, D.C. for a little while on our yearly Mancation.  Last year we went down to the swamps of Florida, but D.C. is our usual destination.  You know, history, family, and all that stuff.  Anyway, I'll be back doing this thing sometime later next week and hopefully I'll have a few things to write about (we are bringing bikes.)

So until then, I'll leave you with something.

Remember when I was almost too late to beg you to buy some socks?  Well, I wasn't and it worked.  Thank y'all so much for the support of my son and my favorite cycling company, DeFeet.  My desperate sounding (sorta) blog post got a few more sales and we well exceeded the goal.  For those of you that ordered, go wait by the mailbox.  Your Lunchbox socks will be here any day now.

Moving on, I'm gonna ask you to buy shit once again.  Not out of desperation though.  And they are socks of course...

Tacos?  You betcha.

Finally, us mountain bike folks are getting what we want.  No snobby stripes or plain ol' roadie style socks this time.  Nope, cool stuff.  Like tacos.  Who TF doesn't like tacos?  Just about every mountain biker I know goes out for Mexican food after a ride, so this sock is appropriate AF.  Pair it up with a cold beer and your post ride refreshments are complete.

Want some?  Yes, you do.  Go here:

TACO SOCKS

Click that link.  It's easy.

At the time I'm posting this, they are sitting at 40% funded with plenty of time left.  So, no begging from me.

Yet.

And while you're there, check out the other projects they have going on.  You might find something else you like.  

Like A Fish

There aren't enough hours in the day.  That is especially accurate on weekends.  Still, that doesn't stop me from trying to squeeze every second I can out of any free time I have.  Sometimes though, it catches up to me and I feelz ded.

Where am I going with this?  Out on the water of course.  Even though I'm riding more (finally), I'm also trying to spend time on the water with the kayaks.  Since we'd planned an urban ride for last Sunday we pretty much had all day Saturday to be out on the water.  So, the little lady and I loaded up our kayaks and headed north to put our little boats in Mountain Island Lake.

She was so excite about it that she almost didn't wait for me.

While it's called a "lake", it's really just a dammed river (like everything around here.)  But, it's still pretty rad to paddle around and explore.  We've been putting in at the same spot the last few times because the options for exploration are plentiful.  We took off in a different direction this time and found some big ass rocks.

And lately I've been bringing my snorkeling gear so I can explore underwater too.

Photo credit:  Little Miss Sunshine

I spent quite a bit of time in the water growing up in Florida and I missed it.  It's nice to be able to do this stuff again, even though up here in North Carolina it's quite different.  Instead of alligators poking up their heads in the water, there are rocks.

And you just can't plant your ass on an alligator and drink beer.

Buying a couple of boats turned out to be a really good idea.  I've missed being out on the water, but more importantly I enjoy the exploration aspect of it.  That's what I love about being on my bikes too, so I can say for sure that I will be making time for both of these fine hobbies.  I'll even cram as much shit as possible into my little bit of spare time so I don't have to choose one over the other.  

You know, because I'll get all the sleep I need when I'm dead.

Urban Fun

I actually got out on the bike again over the weekend.  If I keep this up I might be able to call myself a cyclist again.  This ride was sort of a special occasion.  Some of our friends just moved to the Queen City from the Lowcountry, so we decided that an urban ride would the best way to get them familiar with their new surroundings.

We met up near the Sugar Creek Greenway and shot the shit while we got our bikes (and ourselves) ready.  There were a few flat tire issues that eventually got resolved, but not before the parking lot was splattered with sealant.

Yes, that's the only photo I took of the fiasco.

I didn't mind waiting around, because it was nice that for once I wasn't the one everyone was waiting on.  About forty five minutes after we met in the parking lot, we finally hit the greenway.  It was just a fun ride, so we cruised around with no particular destination in mind.  We eventually ended up on a bridge in Freedom Park.

Photo cred:  Punky

Our friends were having a blast, enjoying our awesome network of greenways around town.  We decided to give them the full tour, so we stopped by one of the coolest bike shops in town, BikeSource.

I spy DeFeet socks in the background...

We shot the shit with some folks that I hadn't seen in a while (because I'm a recluse these days) and eventually got on our way.  We shot across town and caught the next greenway by the light rail.

Even though I haven't told much of a story up to this point, we'd actually been out for quite a while.  It was time for food and beer.  We turned around and headed back toward the city, looking for a place to take a break and get some grub.  We found such a place and parked our bikes.

We decided to try a new place (new to me anyway) that showed a little promise...

They had good beer, and the food was excellent.  The service though?  Shitty.  I mean, really bad.  We waited forever to get our order (it wasn't very busy either) and our server had less personality than this thing:

I won't be going back.  Ever.

We were there for what seemed like hours, which cut into our ride time.  We got back to it, enjoying some cool water on a hot day.

After that it was time to go into the concrete jungle...

And I rode through the Disco Chicken:

We even did some gravel grinding...

I still don't get it.  Maybe I'm not doing it right.

We'd been out for hours.  Our city's newest residents were having a blast, but it was time to head back towards our vehicles.  We made one more stop at the Government Center, where they have some fun shit to play with.

That stuff was for kids.  Probably.

What an awesome day.  I hadn't been on an urban ride in a long time so it was extra special for me.  It was also nice that when our friends left us they didn't have to drive all the way back to Charleston.  

I can't wait to do it again.  Hell, I can't wait to get back on my bike again.  

Which will be sooner rather than later I'm sure.

Almost Too Late

Since I haven't been around here much, I just about missed a prime blogging opportunity.  I've been slacking, to say the least.  Anyway, it involves my favorite cycling company...

DeFeet International

Despite the lack of blogging, I'm still riding and repping their awesome socks but sometimes it feels like I'm the only one doing it on the mountain biking side (except for Sonya of course.)  Anyway, I digress.  What was the almost missed opportunity?

It has something to do with this guy:

And the fact that he has his own sock design....

Because he's so popular around our local bike scene (and down on the coast too), the folks out there in the hills that pay attention decided to let him come out with his own socks.  The description on the page pretty much says it all...

If you’re looking at this sock then you know who the talented young man is already. For everyone else we will share a little of the back story. As a long time DeFeet family friend, we’ve watched this kid become a man and are lucky to call him one of our own. He’s a local Charlotte artist and mountain biker. A big “kid” known for racing in crazy costumes, eating tons of food and bringing fun to local trails.
The Lunchbox sock embodies the spirit of the Charlotte cycling scene – well, the not so serious part anyway.

Does that sound kinda familiar?  Probably because I had to come up with most of it.  Wait, don't they have a marketing person?  Um, yeah. *

Anyway, Lunchbox and I (plus all of our friends) have been doing all the legwork to get these produced.  With no promotion whatsoever from the company's crack marketing team (save a FB share or two from the Chief Sockologist who shouldn't be the only one there doing such things), we've managed to get these over one hundred percent funded.  I guess that's a pretty big accomplishment, but I wish we'd had a little more help.  It's crowdfunding, so they have to know they will be able to sell a certain amount before they produce them.  And these made the cut because we all worked hard to make it happen (yes, you too.)

Why am I still talking about it then?  Because I want to give everyone one more chance to grab a pair of these limited addition socks.  If you're a local, then you know Lunchbox.  You've cheered for his races.  He might have taught your kids to ride the local trails.  Hell, you probably made it through more than a few local races because he was cheering for you in a crazy costume or some shit like that.  He's helped build a lot of the trails you ride, and yes, he still rides too.  He doesn't care about making connections with people in the industry just to look fancy or seem important, because he's as real as it gets.  He's grown up around cycling, and now he designs the best socks in the world.

These in particular are just that much better because they have his face on them (even if it is a funny one.)

They are limited edition so once these are made, that's it.

You have one day left, so click the link below to order yours today:

https://www.defeetbespoke.com/projects/lunchbox-sock/


And HUGE thanks to those of you that helped make this successful.  You're not only supporting a local artist and a great young man, but a great cycling company that's based right here in North Carolina.





*I'm not bashing anyone.  Just calling it like it is.  

Some Like It Hot

Me.

I'm talking about me (surprise.)

I've been in North Carolina for a little over ten years.  I love it here.  I had a little trouble getting acclimated to the cold temps in the winter, but summer was always easy.  I mean, Florida and all that.

So yeah, I'm back to riding (and talking about it) again.  The funny thing is, I had to force myself to do both of them.  I had some things to do over the weekend, but I promised myself I would get out for a ride.  And just some roadie shit, either (I've done plenty of that.)  I needed something...

An adventure!

I didn't have time (nor do I have the fitness right now) to head for the hills, so luckily there are lots of unexplored trails by me that I can hit from the house.  I grabbed The Executor and headed down the street.  It has become customary on all of my rides now to stop and talk with my friends, so I did.

My horse friends always love to shoot the shit with me.

Then I stopped to check out a little ass, but the little ass was checking me out...

After that, it was a little bit of pavement (~1 mile) until I hit the woods.  It's not normally so bad except that it was getting close to one hundred degrees out there.  Did I mention that I waited until almost high noon to depart for this ride?

Dumbass.

Anyway, I found my super-secret trail (I'll tell you if you ask) and hit the fun shit.  Words cannot express how good it felt to be out in the woods on an actual mountain bike. 

Mostly because I sucks at words.  So, here's a photo...

I've been through here before, but there are tons of unexplored (to me) trails that I'd been meaning to check out.  It's mostly four-wheeler type stuff, but fun just the same.  I took off in a different direction this time to see what I could get myself into.

Most of that was a vegetable tunnel, but still very much rideable.  The fact that I wasn't riding on well-groomed cookie cutter singletrack made it worth the cuts and scrapes the bushes gave me.

Mucho exploration.  I had nowhere to be for a while, and even though it was hotter than two rats fucking in a wool sock outside I felt pretty good.  My goal was to ride stuff I hadn't been on before, so I did.  I just rode.  

 Eventually I popped out of the woods and into familiar-ish territory.

In the past, I'd always popped out way over yonder.

Out in the sun now and it was getting hotter.  I was digging it so I kept going.

It was a damn fine day.  I took the road back home and noticed that my Garmin said it was 105 degrees outside. 

That was perfect for an old Florida boy like me.

Plus, my friends out in the desert would probably be happy to have temps that low.

Where was I?

Oh yeah, done for today.  That was rad.

Guess Who's Back?

This guy:

I brought the beer too.

In an effort to resurrect this already dead blog back from the dead (again) I plan to start small.

So, that's it for today.  I'll get back to bullshit stories and other nonsense pretty soon I'm sure.